‘India to grow at 6.3% in 2009-10’

India is expected to register a growth of 6.3 per cent or even more in the current fiscal, as projected, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Monday. He added that inflationary pressure would start easing and would remain under 5 per cent for the fiscal.

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the United Nations Development Programme’s 2009 Human Development Report, Ahluwalia added that the economy is on the revival path. “The GDP would be at 6.3 per cent by the end of this fiscal, as predicted, but could be even better given the signs of economic recovery,” Ahluwalia said.

He said that the impact of drought would be minimised as the country’s economy was on the revival path. “Though drought continues to be a matter of concern, it will have less of negative effect than was originally thought. There are signs of revival in the rest of economy”, Ahluwalia said.

The government has maintained that the growth for the current fiscal would be over 6 per cent despite a weak monsoon. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its monetary policy also said that it would be over 6 per cent.

India’s economy grew by a slower to 6.7 per cent in 2008-09 as against over 9 per cent in the previous three years forcing authorities announced tax and interest rate cuts help companies stay afloat in piling debris of the global credit crisis.

Commenting on corporate affairs minister Salman Khurshid’s recent observation that top executives of the country should take a cut in their salaries, Ahluwalia agreed and said that the corporate sector. should address this issue.